Rob Ford crack video: Second arrest made in shooting linked to video

Police have made a second arrest in the “targeted” shooting of Anthony Smith, the man photographed with Mayor Rob Ford in the picture associated with an alleged crack cocaine video.

A man was arrested by the RCMP last Friday in Fort McMurray, Alta., Toronto police said Thursday morning.

Hanad Mohamed, 23, will appear in a Toronto court Friday to face a charge of first-degree murder, police said.

The arrest comes as a new unverified report says Ford told staffers that he knew the exact address where the alleged crack video was being held, according to the Toronto Star.

Anonymous sources told The Star that Ford revealed the address of an apartment complex in Rexdale during a meeting with staffers, including director of operations and logistics David Price, then deputy chief of staff Earl Provost and now-former press secretary George Christopoulos.

Price linked the alleged crack video to a killing — and discussed obtaining the video — prompting Ford’s former chief of staff, Mark Towhey, to go to the police, a source has told the National Post.

Mayor Ford has repeatedly refused to comment on the alleged video, saying no such video exists. It took him eight days to initially make a statement on the video.

When he appeared at City Hall Thursday shortly before noon, he said nothing to reporters other than to yell: “move!”

As allegations continue to mount in the crack cocaine scandal gripping Ford’s office, councillors are questioning how much longer this can drag on without a substantive response from the mayor.

Reactions are ranging from pleas for the mayor to address the matter further, to suggestions he should step aside.

“Toronto needs a new mayor,” Councillor Josh Matlow tweeted bluntly.

On CBC’s Metro Morning Thursday, Ford ally Denzil Minnan-Wong dodged questions about whether he had lost confidence in the mayor.

“I think the important thing is moving the agenda forward,” Minnan-Wong said in response. “The mayor’s gonna do what the mayor is gonna do. It seems to me that it doesn’t matter what anybody says, that he knows in his mind what he is going to say and no one can move him from that.”

Councillor John Parker, meanwhile, said his own patience “ran out a long time ago” as he waits for the mayor to “set the record straight.”

Asked whether Ford can continue to lead the city amidst the ongoing turmoil: “I guess we’ll find out,” Parker told reporters who have camped outside the mayor’s office for days.

Ford has been “far too glib” and “evasive” in his comments about the scandal to date, Parker said.

“I think we are in uncharted waters here,” he added. “I don’t think any of us… are in a position to predict what happens next. Every day there’s another aspect to the story. Who knows how long it can go, who knows what it will grow into and who knows where it’s taking us.”

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker has repeatedly called for Ford to step aside.

“You don’t have legitimacy to run this government anymore,” he said last week.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said Ford needs to address his “personal issues” so that Toronto can deal with important political matters, which would particularly include transit as the provincial government looks at revenue tools for transit in the region.

With the most serious allegations yet hurled towards Ford, the mayor’s office said Thursday morning he won’t be addressing the media today.

Homicide investigators have interviewed at least one member of Ford’s staff, although police said it was not directly related to a murder.

Nisar Hashimi, 23, turned himself in to face first-degree murder charges in the slaying of Smith earlier this spring.

Smith, 21, was shot in the back of the head shortly before 3 a.m. on March 28 outside a King West nightclub. A second man with him was also shot and survived. It has been reported the second man is also in the photograph with Mayor Ford.

The Mayor’s Office denied reports Wednesday that it ordered the destruction of emails and phone records left behind by three of Ford’s senior staff who have either been fired or quit over the last week.

“At no point did any member of the Mayor’s Office order the records of former employees to be erased,” read a statement from recently designated press spokesman Sunny Petrujkic, a former Doug Ford staffer.

City of Toronto spokeswoman Jackie DeSouza said the IT department did not receive any request from the Mayor’s Office to delete the phone or email records of George Christopoulos, Isaac Ransom or Mark Towhey.

According to a city bylaw, records pertaining to “city business” are protected for Freedom of Information purposes.

U.S.-website Gawker raised $200,000 to buy the alleged video, that one of its editors and two Toronto Star reporters said they viewed.

But just before Gawker’s crowdsourcing efforts reached its goal, editor John Cook said he was no longer in contact with the individuals selling the video.

The National Post has not seen the video and cannot verify its contents.